Health

Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — The United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool announced Thursday it has signed an agreement with 35 companies around the globe to produce generic versions of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pill. The agreement will allow the treatment to be supplied to 95 low- and middle-income countries, home to more […]

The Good Brigade/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — In advance of the rollout of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s new three-digit number, legislators have announced a bill to help fund its implementation. The bill includes federal funding and guidance for states and localities preparing for the July launch, including mental health block grants and $100 million to […]

Courtesy of Taylor Davis (NEW YORK) — Taylor Davis said she feels “blessed” after bringing her twin daughters, Avery Reign Davis and Emersyn Gray Davis, home from the hospital this week. The baby girls were discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, Florida, on Monday. […]

Pekic/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — When the omicron wave hit the United States, it spread throughout the country like wildfire. Different models estimate that anywhere from 50% to 75% of Americans had been infected with the variant by the end of the surge. So, what does that mean for the rest of the U.S. population […]

Amanda Koop (GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — A hospital in Michigan is giving birthing parents a new way to stay connected during a cesarean section delivery. Spectrum Health Butterworth, a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, allows parents to watch the birth on a monitor display next to the operating table. That’s how Amanda Koop got the […]

SONGPHOL THESAKIT/Getty Images (ATLANTA) — Experts fear that COVID-19 cases in the United States will rise in the next few weeks as the new BA.2 variant continues to spread. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows BA.2, which is a subvariant of omicron, has been tripling in prevalence every two weeks. As […]

Stella/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will announce new building ventilation standards for schools and businesses on Thursday — a welcome step for experts who feel the U.S. has long been behind the curve on using air filtration as a valuable tool to fight COVID-19. The new guidance, the latest addition to President Joe […]

Bernd Vogel/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — As experts warn of a growing mental health crisis among kids due to the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows the mental health struggles kids faced even prior to the pandemic. Between 2016 and 2020, the number of children ages 3 to 17 who were diagnosed with anxiety grew by […]

Karl Tapales/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Amid growing concerns about the impact of the pandemic on Americans’ mental health, and the rollout of a new three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline this summer, advocates say local call centers across the nation remain underfunded and understaffed for an expected increase in call volume. Despite […]

Tetra Images/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — When the coronavirus receded across much of the globe last month and the omicron surge declined, many Americans were hopeful that was perhaps the signal that the United States was entering a new phase of the pandemic. However, new data indicators, domestically and internationally, suggest that the virus continues […]